
R.L. Stine Biography
Who Is R.L. Stine?
Top-selling children's book author R.L. Stine started out writing jokes and funny stories. He moved to New York City in the mid-1960s, after graduating from The Ohio State University. In 1986, Stine published Blind Date, his first horror novel for young adults. He launched his popular Fear Street book series three years later. Beginning in 1992, Stine found international acclaim writing the Goosebumps series, which spurred the creation of additional series and nearly 200 books.
Early Life
R.L. Stine was born Robert Lawrence Stine in Columbus, Ohio, on October 8, 1943. Stine began writing stories at the age of 9, using an old typewriter that he found. He initially made up jokes and humorous stories, not the spine-tingling tales that later made him famous.
Stine's father worked as a shipping clerk in a warehouse, and his mother stayed home to look after young Robert and his two siblings. Stine has described himself as "a very fearful child," and said that his mother gave him one of his first serious frights by reading Pinocchio. "The original Pinocchio is terrifying ... He goes to sleep with his feet on the stove and burns his feet off!" Stine said of the classic tale, according to the HarperCollins website.
At The Ohio State University, Stine remained focused on the lighter side of life. He edited the school's humor magazine, The Sundial, for several years. After graduating in the mid-1960s, he moved to New York City.
Career Beginnings
In New York, Stine worked as a writer and editor. He eventually landed a position at Scholastic, Inc., working on children's magazines. He created a humor magazine for kids, Bananas, in the mid-1970s, and later launched Maniac magazine for the company. Outside of his day job, Stine wrote humorous books for kids under the name "Jovial Bob Stine."
After losing his job at Scholastic during a company reorganization, Stine began writing full-time. He branched out into the horror genre, beginning his first scary tale with only the title—Blind Date. The book received a warm welcome when it was released in 1986, as did Twisted and The Baby-Sitter, released in 1987 and 1989, respectively.
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